NEIGHBOURS have left floral tributes in memory of a woman who lay undiscovered in a Southampton house for at least three weeks.

As previously reported police were forced to break into a first floor flat in Merryoak where her body was found.

Officers say her death is not being treated as suspicious and were last night still trying to contact her next of kin of the woman who they now reveal is in her 50s.

Now neighbours at The Oaks have spoken of her shock and sadness after learning how she had been unnoticed for so long in the house.

The alarm was raised after neighbours noticed flies covering the window in the flat below at around 4.30pm on Sunday.

Now next door neighbour Caron White, 49, left flowers on her doorstep, with a heartfelt note, saying: "So sorry you were alone at the end. RIP."

Ms White said: "It's so sad. She moved in quite quietly around May, but I didn't get the chance to talk to her or know her name. I used to see her catching a taxi from outside her house and she always used to walk very slowly as if something was wrong. It's sad that you don't always get to know your neighbours."

Ms White said that she had noticed flies and a strange smell over a week ago but assumed it was due to the hot summer weather.

Mark Twinbarrow, 31, who lives nearby saw the police break the window of the flat below with truncheons to gain access to the upper flat before an ambulance arrived.

The lower window remains border up.

Mark said: "I initially thought the police were trying to evict someone. But now it's very sad that she was there for so long. I never saw anyone go in and out so assumed noone lived there."

Neighbour Jackie Andrews, 48, said: "With so many people working they don't get to see their neighbours as much. When you have mortgages to pay you don't have the time but it's a bit of a shock this can happen."

Another woman who did not want to give her name said: "It's very sad that no one noticed her sooner. It makes you think more about your neighbours."

A spokeswoman for Hampshire Constabulary confirmed the woman's death is not being treated as suspicious adding: "A file is being prepared for the coroner and we are trying to contact the next of kin."